“Yes, but Bill was one of those who discovered the body.” said Mr. Sussman. “His situation and your Stu’s, Ben, they’re different.”
“I don’t see that they’re so different.” said Gorfinkle. “After all, Stu never even entered the house until they went back for the other boy.”
“You mean he’s in the clear, and that’s why you’re so willing,” Mr. Sussman pointed out.
“We’ll be here all night if we keep on wrangling like this,” said Mr. Arons. “What’s it come down to? Chief Lanigan wants to question our kids all together on an informal basis. He’s certainly got a right to question them, and we’ve got a right to have a lawyer present. So if he questions them individually, don’t you think he’ll get the answers to any questions he wants to ask even if there is a lawyer present? If he doesn’t get it from one, he’ll get it from another. You know, folks. I get the impression that this Lanigan is a sincere guy. I think he’s on the level. I don’t think he’s trying to trap anybody.”
“It just occurred to me.” said Mr. Sussman. “If there’s no lawyer present, then none of what is said can be used as evidence in court. So maybe we’re better off without a lawyer.”
“That’s a good point.” said Schulman.
“That’s right. Maybe Lanigan outsmarted himself.”
“I still think one of us ought to be present, though.”
“I don’t know how Lanigan would feel about that.” said Jacobs. “Personally. I wouldn’t care to be the one. I wouldn’t care to be responsible to the rest of you for advising your kids. Suppose one of them said something damaging—”
“Suppose we got someone who is not involved, someone neutral.” Epstein offered.
“Like who?”
“Perhaps”—Mr. Arons turned—“the rabbi here—”
Chapter Forty-Two
Lieutenant Jennings glanced through the typed sheets and handed them over to his chief. “There’s Paff s statement. Hugh. Nothing very interesting in it, although it struck me that he was kind of edgy.”
“Everybody’s edgy when they have to talk to the police,” said Lanigan. “That’s one of the troubles with being a cop.” He read from the statement: “‘QUESTION: What is your interest in Hillson House? ANSWER: I’m thinking of buying it; that is, a group of us are. QUESTION: For what purpose? ANSWER: It’s a business venture.’” Lanigan looked up. “He never told you what it was?”
“No, Hugh, he acted pretty closed-mouthed about it, and I didn’t feel I had the right to pry, especially when I couldn’t see any connection. After all, if it’s some special deal he naturally wouldn’t want it to get out before he was ready.”
“Maybe you’re right. But did he say who the group was?”
“Yeah, later on he mentions at least some of the names. There’s a guy name of Arons who is the father of one of the kids, and there’s Dr. Edelstein—you know him—and there’s a man name of Kallen, Irving Kallen. He was supposed to meet them at the site, but none of them showed, so he drove off.”
“That’s a little funny,” said Lanigan. “If he got there early, you’d think he’d wait. And if he got there late, he might assume that someone else could be late, and you’d think he’d wait for a few minutes anyway.”
“Not if you read the statement, Hugh. Edelstein and Arons called earlier to tell him they wouldn’t make it. It was raining so hard he figured Kallen wouldn’t come out either.” He leaned over and pointed to a paragraph on the typescript. “‘I slowed down, saw that no one was there and the house was dark, and drove on.’
“Hm—maybe. But still, there’s the business of his bowling alleys—”
“Gosh, Hugh, bowling is respectable these days. Some alleys have these little tables where you have a bite, and there are even some where women can bring the kids and leave them with a baby-sitter while they bowl. Pool and billiard parlors, the same way. You know that one over at the shopping center? I dropped in there one evening while the missus was shopping in the supermarket, and there was this gal in a mini-skirt stretched out on that table making a shot for the corner pocket. You could see her whole whatsis. I tell you. I just had to get up and leave.”
“I’ll bet.”
Jennings disregarded his chiefs sarcasm. “Say, do you suppose that’s the deal on Hillson House? He and his friends want to turn it into one of them fancy bowling alleys?”
“Could be. Still it’s funny about him.”
“What’s funny?”
“Well, there’s that call from Kevin O’Connor. Kevin is an idiot, but he’s also a cop. He wouldn’t go asking me about Paff just to gossip. I take it that the Lynn police are really suspicious of that bowling alley of his. Anyway, it’s a coincidence. And his having a key to Hillson House is another. And his driving by there that same night—that’s still another. It’s a lot of coincidences when you come to think of it.”
“Yeah, but he’s a big man in the community. What could the likes of him have to do with the likes of Moose
Carter?”
“Well, for one thing. Moose worked for him.”
“So?”
“So it’s a connection. Suppose, just suppose.” said Lanigan slowly. “Paff were distributing pot. Remember, a lot of kids come into his bowling alleys. Now suppose, just suppose, that after working there for a while, Moose tumbles onto it. You know the sort of kid he was. He wouldn’t notify the police. Oh no. he’d tell Paff and make him cough up for it. All right. Paff goes to Hillson House for this special deal. When his friends don’t show he figures while he’s here he might as well look the place over again. He goes from room to room, and then he sees Moose. Maybe so far the kid only hit him up for small change. Maybe for that package of pot we found on him. But he knows it’s not going to stop there. It’s going to get worse. And then he realizes that he can settle the whole business by just lifting up a corner of the sheet and tucking it in.”
“You mean he’d kill him to avoid being blackmailed? Seems to me he’d be more apt to wait until the kid actually bore down on him.”
“Maybe he did. Or look at it this way: Maybe he wouldn’t go out of his way to do anything drastic, but here an opportunity presents itself. All he has to do is tuck in a fold of plastic and walk away.”
“Beauty! But you’ve got to admit, Hugh, that it’s pretty fanciful. I wouldn’t want to put the arm on anybody on the basis of that kind of evidence.”
“Oh, I’m keeping an open mind on the subject. I haven’t written off those kids by a long shot. Remember, they all knew Moose. Any one of them could have done it, girls as well as boys. Maybe some of those girls were sweet on some of the boys and vice versa. And from what I can gather. Moose was cracking wise quite a bit. We know he fooled around with the girls, and maybe someone there didn’t like it. So when he passed out—”
“All right, so now you’ve got the eight kids—no, seven, because the Gorfinkle boy wasn’t there. Are you sure you can’t get him involved?”
Lanigan disregarded Jennings’ sarcasm. “No, I can’t come up with anything for him. I’d say he was in the clear.”
“Then I’ll give you one. How about old man Carter?”
“Carter, the boy’s father”
“Stepfather, Hugh.”
“That’s right. I forgot about that. What difference does it make, though? He adopted him. I suppose. Anyway he brought him up as his own. Who was the boy’s father?”
Jennings grinned. “He was born over the left. He wasn’t Carter’s boy, that’s for sure. And the old man could never forget it. Whenever he had trouble with him, and there was trouble with the police once or twice, he blamed it on the boy’s birth. He told me once when Moose was involved on a matter of vandalism that it was because he was a child of sin and came of bad seed.”